Dried Seafood Street and Tonic Food Street

Dried seafood is a common ingredient in Chinese cooking and traditional tonics, and in Hong Kong, this trade is clustered around a section of Des Voeux Road West in Sheung Wan, commonly known as Dried Seafood Street.

Up to 50 years ago the area was dominated by salted fish stores, when workers would dry their products on rooftops, sell them on the ground floors and live on the floors in between. As the area became more residential, businesses expanded their sales pitch to include more high-end and auspicious options, including the Chinese banquet favourite abalone.

Today, these shops sporting strange and exotic fare are fantastic insights into local food and health culture. In the mornings, trucks line the street replenishing the shops, which soon become choked with housewives inspecting the likes of black moss, dried snakeskin, dried sausage and expensive dried scallop. The street is particularly lively in the run up to Chinese New Year when households are preparing for festive banqueting.

The nearby streets of Wing Lok and Ko Shing specialise in ancient Chinese tonic foods – mostly ginseng and bird’s nest – which are believed by some to hold the key to a better complexion, more energy and a longer life.